


A Scooby of Her Own

by secooper87



Series: The Child of Balime [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Action/Adventure, Funny, Humor, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-20
Updated: 2013-04-23
Packaged: 2017-12-08 23:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secooper87/pseuds/secooper87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fix the dishwasher before Buffy finds out you broke it? Save disappearing kids at a theme park? Fix the dishwasher? Save disappearing kids...? "Sorry, Mom," says Seo, as she runs off into her next adventure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"No, Olivia, don't!" called Wendy Jillington, as she struggled to get the six kids she was babysitting back under control.

It was her sister's three kids, ages 4 to 8, and each of them had been allowed to bring along a mate — which Wendy still couldn't quite believe her sister had actually done to her. Particularly since, apparently, none of the kids' mates actually got along with one another. Wendy, eventually, had to race over and separate Hank and Olivia, herself, before they came to blows.

"If you two don't shape up," Wendy warned them, "I'll make sure your mums—"

But that was the moment when every single one of the six kids spun around and ran off. Pushing and shoving at one another, scrambling to get somewhere as fast as they could. Wendy looked up, to discover they were all six running towards a strange man, who stood in the shade of a nearby tree. An oddly dressed man, wearing a hoodie sweat shirt, with the hood drawn up to obscure his face. He handed out sweets to the sea of children surrounding him.

Wendy marched over to him. "All right, that's enough," she told the children, trying to relieve them of their sweets. "Hand them back to the nice man. Your mum said no sugar before…"

That was when Wendy noticed the man's face.

And screamed.

As, without any rhyme or reason, every single child nearby vanished into thin air.

* * *

The problem wasn't that Alison's parents were suddenly rich.

It was that, for some reason, they believed this made them suddenly posh.

The news had come completely unexpectedly. One of their distant relatives, on Alison's mother's side, had been an insanely rich old American bachelor, who was planning to leave his fortune to his favorite dog. Then, after one night, when he'd started chatting up some attractive, dashing blond girl, who looked about 50 years younger than himself, he apparently had a sudden change of heart, and had altered his will. Selecting one of his relatives — seemingly at random — and leaving his entire fortune to her.

Later that night, he'd had a heart attack. And died.

Alison's mum had been the sole beneficiary of the old bachelor's entire fortune.

Which meant that Alison's parents had become extremely rich. Overnight. For no apparent reason other than pure dumb luck.

The next morning, they put their house up for sale. And moved to London.

"We are a respectable family, now," Alison's dad had explained to her, when they were house-hunting in London. "And a respectable, upper-class family requires a respectable, upper-class home."

"Dad," Alison reminded him, "you work in sewage management."

They bought a six bedroom house in Chelsea Park Gardens, complete with gabled windows and ivy lining the brickwork and potted trees outside the front door. It was more the kind of house you'd buy to impress someone than the kind you'd actually want to live in.

"And this room," Alison's mum explained, "is the movie theater room. And when you turn out the lights…" She did so, and pointed at the ceiling, where tiny pinprick light bulbs flickered. "See? They look like stars!"

"Wouldn't that be really annoying, if you're watching a movie?" Alison asked.

But no one paid much attention to her. Particularly not Alison's mum or dad. They were busily spending their newly gained money, trying to join country clubs and show off to the neighbors, trying to create a brand new life for themselves.

"Not for ourselves," Mum told Alison. "For you and David. Our children. We're giving you a future you never thought you could have."

"A future… as a snooty posh kid," Alison checked.

"Think of it as an opportunity," said Dad. "A chance to pursue whatever interest you like, and not need to worry, financially."

Alison nodded, slowly. Yeah. Sure she wouldn't.

Because, apparently, her parents now believed that it rained hundred pound notes on Sundays and, therefore, there was no point in saving anything for the future.

"David appreciates our spending policies," Mum pointed out. She smiled down at him, now surrounded by nice, shiny new toys. "Look at how happy he is."

"So… we're taking financial advice," Alison clarified, "from my five year old baby brother." She sighed. "Course. That makes perfect sense, Mum."

The thing her parents didn't seem to realize was — Alison didn't really _want_ money. Didn't want to be the posh kid at school with the new designer jackets and perfectly styled hair.

She wanted… oh, she didn't even know!

"Well, we can't buy it for you if you don't know what it is," Dad told her.

"It's not something you can buy, Dad," Alison replied.

It was… just… this feeling Alison got, when she was wandering around on the streets. Like… there had to be something more than this. Had to be something else to life other than money or 'high-society' or school or work or any of that!

She wanted the more. She wanted the purpose. A larger goal. A greater challenge.

Her parents certainly didn't understand that. At all.

"But what do you _really_ want for your future, Alison?" Mum asked. "Career-wise. You'll be off at university in a year. You have to begin planning ahead."

"Well," Alison said, "I _was_ planning to live in a tent on the M4, selling gourds to passing motorists. But now that we've moved into Posh-town, London, I've completely changed my life goals and am now striving to become Prime Minister of Great Britain."

Mum gave her a stern look.

"That," Alison continued. "Or to work in sewage management. I honestly can't decide."

* * *

As always, it had begun because Seo had destroyed something. Again.

Buffy — no, Mom, she had to remember to call her that — was heading off to Cardiff, and she'd explained that, no, this time, Seo _couldn't_ come with her, absolutely not, under no circumstances whatsoever…

Which meant that either Mom was up to something insanely dangerous.

Or, more likely, she was feeling lonely, again, and had decided to engage in some very not PG 13 related activities with a certain immortal man whom not even the Powers that Be could kill for sleeping with her.

"Don't break anything, blow anything up, or destroy the world while I'm gone," Mom instructed, walking out the door.

Seo had been good.

For about 90 seconds.

Then she'd figured out that she could rewire the dishwasher, make it hook up to the mp3 player and the radio, and trick it into believing it was a holographic generator. Which was brilliant! And something she absolutely had to do!

It worked.

Right until the dishwasher blew up.

So now, Seo was scrambling around on the internet, trying to work out how to recreate a dishwasher so it actually washed dishes, instead of producing holograms. And…

Oh.

Wait, that wasn't dishwasher related. But… it wasn't good, either.

Extremely not good. And extremely not-being-solved. And extremely needing-someone-clever-to-fix-it.

Seo looked back at the dishwasher, biting her lower lip. Dishwasher? Saving disappearing kids? Dishwasher? Saving disappearing kids?

"Sorry, Mom," said Seo, as she raced out of the flat.

* * *

Alison dismissed the nanny.

That was a very nice way of putting it. What Alison had actually done was march up to the nanny, grab David out of her hands, and tell her to, "Get stuffed."

And promptly left.

She probably wouldn't have done it if she'd known anyone in London her own age. Or if her parents weren't being such gits about suddenly becoming rich overnight. But, as it was, the only person Alison knew or even really liked in the London area was her baby brother.

Pain in the neck he may be, but he was brilliant. Alison had to give him that.

So she borrowed the car, and took her little brother somewhere fun. They had all this money, anyways, why not spend it giving her kid-brother a day to remember?

She took him to the Chessington World of Adventures Resort.

Yes, she was going to get in trouble. Yes, Mum and Dad would be furious at her. But… honestly? Alison didn't really care, anymore.

Served them right for moving away from all her friends.

David was, as always, rambunctious and excitable and brilliant all at once. Racing around the park, eager to try out all the rides and see all the animals and — could they visit the petting zoo, please, Alison, please, please, please?

But the petting zoo was closed. Some… police investigation, apparently.

"Investigating what?" Alison asked one of the park employees.

The employee brushed her off with some vague mutterings about mysterious disappearances and it wasn't important and please move on, the petting zoo is closed. Which didn't exactly satisfy Alison. Disappearances? What sorts of disappearances? Who had disappeared, and why hadn't Alison heard anything about it?

"Don't you think that's odd, David?" Alison asked him.

David didn't seem all that interested in the oddness, though. He had decided that he wanted an ice-lolly, and had grabbed Alison up by the hand, trying to tug her along after him.

As Alison was led away, she overheard an American accented voice asking the employee some questions. Questions about the disappearances — what he'd seen, what had happened, what he knew. But the answers to these questions were swallowed up by the chatter of nearby people, and when Alison glanced over her shoulder, she only just caught a glimpse of someone about her age, with blond hair and brown eyes.

Before David tugged her around a corner.

And Alison could neither hear nor see anything else.

That was all right, though. Certainly all right. Let other people deal with this sort of thing. Alison was just dealing with her brother. And if her brother wanted an ice-lolly? Well, this was his day — he was entitled to one.

It still didn't stop Alison from feeling… twitchy. Odd. Disturbed. Even as she stood in the queue.

Why hadn't she heard about this?

What had happened?

"Alison!" David whined, when he noticed she wasn't paying attention to him, anymore. He tugged at her sleeve, and she realized she was next in the queue at the food trolley.

She stepped forward, giving the food-man an apologetic smile. "One ice-lolly, please," she said, handing over the money. She squinted at the different flavors. "Red one, I think."

The food-man sighed, and handed her over the lolly. "Thank you, please come again," he said, in a monotone voice that was less than enthusiastic.

Alison turned, stepping out of the queue. "All right, David. But you'd better eat this slowly, or you'll… get…"

Then realized… David had run off.

Alison groaned. "Where'd you run off to, this time, David?" she muttered.

Her eyes frantically scanning through the crowds of people, trying to work out where he'd run off to. And… yes, just there! That was him! By that man in the black hoodie, eating some marshmallow treat, looked like. A marshmallow treat… given to him by the man?

Brilliant David may be, but he was bone-stupid around strangers bearing sweets.

"David!" Alison shouted, racing towards him. "Get back here!"

A crowd of people passed between Alison and David. Alison pushed through them, very nearly dropping the lolly to the ground, as she did so.

"Didn't they teach you anything in nursery school," said Alison, as she emerged from the crowd, "about not… approaching…?"

She stopped. Stared.

Both the man… and David… had vanished.

Alison dropped the lolly to the ground. "David?"

No answer.

"David!" Alison called.

She began searching, frantically. Looking behind rubbish bins, huge posters, plastic statues of animals, anywhere a little boy could hide. But… nothing. Nothing at all! He was just… gone!

"David!" Alison shouted, again.

"He can't hear you," came an American accented voice to her right.

Alison spun around, and… there, standing nearby, a pensive look on her face, was the blond girl Alison had seen, before. She was short, with straight blond hair, large brown eyes, and freckles dotted across her nose.

"What do you mean, he can't hear me?" asked Alison, as the girl darted past her, standing in the very spot David had once been, with the strange hoodie-wearing man. "Did he get kidnapped or something?" She spun on her heel, ready to rush for the exit. "I can cut them off! Make sure—"

The blond girl grabbed her hand and tugged her back. Gave her a placating smile. "I wouldn't bother," she said. "You won't find them."

"Why?" Alison demanded. "What…?"

"Because they're not on this planet, anymore," the girl explained. She wandered out a little ways, smacked her lips, thinking it all over. "Air tastes faintly of… ginger beer. Feels a bit static." She nodded. "Definitely a long range teleport beam."

Alison's jaw dropped open. "Oh, my God," she breathed. "You're mad."

"No, I'm Seo," the girl explained, spinning around to face Alison, again. "But it's not about who _I_ am. What I want to know is… who's the tallish man in the black hoodie who keeps kidnapping nursery school children?"

Alison wasn't sure what to say to this.

"You didn't actually see his face, did you?" asked Seo. She grinned, shook her head. "No, course you didn't. Or you'd know he wasn't human. And you'd be a jabbering wreck, like all the others."

"Wasn't human?" Alison said. Struggling to get this through her mind. "What do you mean, 'wasn't human'? You don't mean… he was… an…?"

Seo beamed at Alison.

"No," said Alison.

"Yep," said Seo. Then turned on her heels, and raced off into the distance.

Alison chased after her.

"Look, who are you?" Alison demanded, trying to keep up and avoid the oncoming crowds of people at the same time. "What's happened to David? What's going on here, and why are they able to hush it up?"

Seo stopped in her tracks. Glanced over her shoulder. "Hush it up?"

"Well… yeah," Alison said. She shrugged, uncomfortably. "It's just… this is an amusement park. If children start going missing, here, it should be all over the news. Everyone in London would be talking about it."

Seo thought this through, a spark appearing in her eyes. "You're good at this," she noted. She turned to Alison. "What's your name?"

"Alison," said Alison.

"Can I recruit you to be my unofficial Scooby for this investigation, Alison?" Seo asked her.

"Huh?" asked Alison.

"Brilliant," said Seo. She grabbed Alison by the hand, and tugged her along, through the crowds of people. "And the reason this hasn't been reported, yet, is because our black-hooded friend has been extremely clever. Moment before he teleports the kid away, he reveals his face to the parent or guardian nearby. Next thing you know — the children are gone, and the parent can't do anything except scream and sob."

Alison felt her head spinning.

"Easy to cover up," said Seo, "when the only witnesses have gone completely mad." She reflected. "Well, except for me and you, that is. We haven't gone mad."

"You sound mad to me," said Alison.

Seo stopped. Turned back to Alison. "You really don't believe me?"

Alison tugged her hand out of Seo's grip. Crossed her arms. "My brother has been kidnapped," she said. "By a man. A human man, in a black hoodie. Not an alien. Not some green-skinned, bug-eyed monster. A normal, evil man. Because aliens — real, honest-to-goodness, like-in-the-films aliens — don't exist."

"Then why are you following me?" Seo asked.

Alison opened her mouth to answer, but found… she didn't have one.

"I saw what happened," Seo told Alison. "I was across the way, watching, when your brother got taken. Whoever took him wasn't human, Alison. His fingers were wrinkly and gray. And there were six of them. Does that sound human to you?"

No. It… didn't.

"Why should I believe you?" Alison asked.

"Because you're clever enough to know I'm right," Seo replied. "Clever enough to know that — if David had gotten kidnapped in the conventional way — he would have screamed and kicked up a fuss. Even if the candy was laced with some sort of pacifying drug, it would never have had a chance to kick in. The only way this makes sense is if I'm telling you the truth."

Alison said nothing for a long moment.

"Yes," she said, at last. Then sighed. "All right, yes, I believe you! Just please don't make this any more X-files than it needs to be."

Seo frowned, confused — clearly missing the reference. Then pretended she'd understood it, and gestured for Alison to follow her, as she raced off, again.

"I've been looking into this all day," Seo called back at her. "Or… not all day. More like… the last forty minutes. You don't happen to know how to fix a dishwasher, do you?"

They zipped around a corner, then stopped in front of a large plastic-looking amusement park display. A series of oversized, plastic animal sculptures that kids could climb on, get their pictures taken with, etc.

"It's got to be around here," Seo told Alison. "I'm positive. This is the triangulation point between everywhere that kids have been taken. The center of the circle."

"What has to be here?" asked Alison. She put her hand up to her head, trying to think past the mental block in her mind that kept telling her this had to all be rubbish. Or a bad dream. "No, wait. Center point." She looked up into the sky, squinting. "Do they have some… invisible space ship parked up there?"

Seo looked up, too. "I don't know," she admitted. "That's an interesting thought." She shot Alison a grin. "Actually, what I think's hidden around here is the teleport feed." She bent down, patting down the plastic animals, as if feeling for some kind of hidden catch or switch.

"Teleport feed," Alison deadpanned.

"Whoever that man in the hoodie is," said Seo, switching to another animal, "he used a long range teleport to get past the atmosphere. Probably designed to hook onto some signal embedded in the sweets. And a teleport like that needs…" She grinned, as her hand stopped, and her eyes lit up. "Aha!" she cried, and pounded her fist down on the side of the plastic elephant's head.

The front of the elephant's trunk opened up, and Alison just barely caught the futuristic piece of alien tech that dropped out.

The metal, beneath her fingertips, felt unlike anything she'd ever felt before. The language scrolling across the display completely alien. Every part of the device screaming 'other world' at her.

"Oh, God," she whispered. "It's all true." Then, overriding the fear and horror and concern over her brother… a feeling of sudden excitement inside her, rushing through her. "Aliens! Outer space! It's all true!"

Seo grabbed up the teleportation feed from Alison, studying it. She dug out a bobby pin from her pocket, and began prying off bits of casing.

"Are… are _you_ … an alien?" Alison asked her.

Seo didn't bother looking up. "No; I'm an American."

Alison felt a little disappointed. "Oh."

"My father's an alien, though," Seo continued, squinting at some wires beneath the casing. "So, if you're asking whether you should rush me to the hospital if I get stabbed or shot or blown up, the answer is… no. Or I'll probably be dissected."

"Your father…?" Alison felt a sudden rush of excitement. "So… you have special powers, right? Like… if you touch your fingers together, time stands still, until you clap and it all goes back to normal, again?"

Seo glanced up from her examination. "Touch your fingers together? Is that a real thing?"

Alison fidgeted. "It… was… in a TV show," she offered.

Seo reflected. Then shook her head. "Well, I can't do that," she said, turning back to her work. "My main superpower is the ability to kill immortal, evil, 12th dimensional Hell Goddesses. Supposedly." She shrugged. "I've never tried it, myself."

Alison nodded, slowly. Taking this all in.

"What's wrong with your dishwasher?" Alison asked.

Seo paused. "What?"

"You… asked if I knew how to fix a dishwasher," Alison explained. "So… what's wrong with it?"

Seo cringed. "It blew up," she admitted. Her eyes fixed, intently, on the teleport feed. "All right, _I_ blew it up. But it was an accident." One red light pulsed on the machine, in a steady, rhythmic throbbing. "I was trying to work out how to fix it, when I heard about some rumor regarding disappearing kids in a theme park, and… well…"

"Came here to investigate," Alison said. Because, apparently, 17-year-olds with alien fathers just… did things like that.

The red light on the teleport feed stopped blinking.

Then, all the lights blinked back on, and the teleport feed began humming in Seo's hands. Seo gave a large grin, as the different colored lights danced across her pale skin. "Ha! There you are!"

Seo grabbed up a large red wire, and yanked it out of the device.

It clunked. Then went dead in Seo's hands.

Alison stared. "What did you do that for?" she demanded. "I thought we were going to teleport ourselves onto—"

"Whoever kidnapped those kids," Seo explained, calmly, "just teleported back here. I want to find him. I disabled the feed so he'd be trapped, unable to teleport to the space ship."

Oh.

That made sense.

"And then… you can re-enable it, later," Alison hypothesized, "to get us to this alien ship thing?"

Seo didn't answer. Just spun on her heel, and pointed in a random direction. "That way," she decided. Then, with a grin and a skip, raced off. "Come on!"


	2. Chapter 2

"No Seo, this time," Jack noted, as Buffy entered the Torchwood Hub.

Buffy shrugged, walking over to the computers and dropping her weapons bag to the floor. "You said whatever this monster was, we were going to have to kill it."

Owen sat back in his chair, hands behind his head. "You know, you never had a problem with us killing evil aliens until Seo came along."

Buffy crossed her arms. "I, personally, think the bastards get what's coming to them." She looked off into the distance, her face bending into a frown. "But… it's not about the aliens. It's… Seo. I can't kill things in front of Seo. I'm her mom, I have to set a good example."

"And… that's the only reason you came here alone?" Owen said.

"Yes."

Owen nodded, then popped out of his chair. Strolled over, yanked the weapons bag up onto the desk and unzipped it — all before Buffy had a chance to even register what he was doing, let alone stop him.

"Weapons," Owen observed. Then raised up a spare set of panties Buffy had packed. "And… an overnight bag."

Buffy jerked the panties out of Owen's hands, threw them into the weapons bag, then swung the bag back around her shoulder. "That's private."

Owen leaned over the desk. "Nothing's private round here, love."

"All right, Owen, that's enough," Jack cut in. With only a wink at Buffy, he sat beside Tosh, feet up on the desk. "Tosh. Show us what you got."

* * *

"That's him!" Alison shouted, racing forwards, as they saw the hoodied man with a bar of chocolate in his hand. The man was standing in the shadows, face hidden, looking creepy and disturbing and almost sinister, clearly up to something with that chocolate.

So why was everyone just passing him by without even giving him a second glance?

"He's offering chocolate?" Seo said. She sounded almost offended. "But… that's _my_ thing!" She gave him a dark, steady glare. "All right. This time… it's personal."

As they got closer, Alison realized… Seo was right. The man did have six fingers. Six gray, snarled-looking fingers. Six obviously non-human fingers.

She stopped Seo, a short ways away. A sudden, terrible fear rising up in her chest, although she didn't exactly know why. "Why… why isn't anyone else noticing him?" Alison whispered.

Seo reflected on this. "I don't know," she said. "Perception filter, I'd guess. Why are you whispering?"

"I…" Alison frowned. "I… have no idea."

Seo reached out, touching Alison's hand. "You're shaking."

Alison yanked her hand away. Damn, she was. And for no good reason, either. "Shut up."

Seo thought this through, her forehead creasing as she seemed to muse over the possibilities.

"It's… his hands," Alison admitted. Her voice was trembling, too, and she couldn't control it. "His… his hands…"

"Six fingers," Seo agreed, "gray skin. Alien. Is that surprising? You knew that before…" She stopped. Her eyes went wide. "Oh. I see. You're getting what the others got. But in a smaller dose."

Alison couldn't take her eyes off the hoodied man. "What?"

Seo grabbed Alison up by the shoulders and spun her around. "Alison," she said, very calmly. "Look at me. Look into my eyes. You're safe. You understand? Whatever he's trying to do to your mind, he can't. Can't even touch you."

Alison, using every scrap of willpower, managed to tear her eyes away from the hoodied man, and towards Seo. Looking into Seo's eyes. Staring into those deep, deep brown…

A flash through her head… a flash filled with… shapes, monsters, demons, evil things and good things and magic and space and this almost river of time roaring through, sprinkling droplets of water across the inside of Alison's own head, and a rush of questions and enquiries and thoughts and…

Alison stepped back, hands over her eyes, as the connection broke.

"Sorry!" said Seo, rushing over to steady her. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to… I just wanted to calm you down, I wasn't thinking, and… are you all right?"

Alison took a few deep breaths. The good news was that the intense fear from the alien creature was gone. But she now had a blinding headache.

"What did you do?" Alison asked Seo, peeking out at the girl, again.

Seo fixed her eyes on the ground. Digging her shoe into the pavement. "I'm… sort of… rubbish at hypnosis," she muttered.

"You were trying to hypnotize me?" Alison demanded.

Seo glanced back up at Alison. "I… um… sorry?"

Alison crossed her arms.

"Well, you were being acted upon by an outside mental influence," Seo explained. "And I wanted to stop you freaking out, and my instincts all said to do that hypnosis calm-down thing, so I…" She paused, large, worried eyes fixed on Alison. "You're never going to forgive me, are you?"

"Why wasn't David afraid?" Alison asked.

Seo frowned. "What?"

"Everyone who looks at that… alien… freaks out," said Alison, pointing. "But David didn't. The other kids didn't. And _you_ didn't."

Seo looked back at the alien. A small grin appearing on her face. "Oh!" she cried. She glanced back at Alison, beaming. "You know, I think I like having a Scooby."

Then grabbed Alison up by the hand, and yanked her along behind, racing forwards towards the hoodied alien. Alison barely had time to catch her breath, let alone process the fact that… for whatever reason… the hoodied alien wasn't sparking any reaction in her mind, this time.

Not even a drop of fear.

"It's age," Seo called back, as she ran. "It only wants pre-pubescent kids. So it scans your mind, picks out your age, and then beams out the 'go mad' or 'come closer' command accordingly."

"And… _you_?" asked Alison.

"I don't know," Seo said. "Should have sent me mad. Maybe my mind doesn't pick up that kind of psychic signal. Or maybe the alien didn't understand how to send it to me. Maybe it only works on full-blooded humans. No idea!"

They stopped, just beside the alien. Slowly, carefully, he swiveled his head around, to show them his face. No… not _them_. He was staring right at… Alison.

Alison gasped, a ripple of fear spreading through her body, once more.

Seo broke out into a wide grin, examining the face. "Oh, you're an android!" she exclaimed. "So _that's_ why I got nothing from you!"

She squeezed Alison's hand a little, which made Alison feel better — although she wasn't sure how — then yanked the chocolate bar out of the android's hands, and examined it. Brought it up to her eyes, squinting.

"It's… it's…" Alison shook her head, closing her eyes. Why was she freaking out? It was just a metal face. Dull, gray metal, inlaid with designs that could look almost like wrinkled skin from a distance. There wasn't anything weird or creepy about it.

Get a grip, Alison. Hold yourself together.

She opened her eyes.

Seo sniffed at the chocolate. Then licked it. She made a face, yanking it away from her. "Yech! That's disgusting!"

"What?" asked Alison. Her heart racing. "Is it… poisoned?"

"No, it's enlaced with a chemical compound that allows teleports to target you, specifically," Seo said. "But it tastes all metallic and tingly and yucky." She pointed an accusing finger at the android. "You are giving chocolate a bad name. You know that?"

The android tapped a button on its wrist.

Nothing happened.

It tapped it again.

Still nothing.

"Yeah, not going to happen, Scotty," said Alison.

"Scotty?" asked Seo, glancing over her shoulder at Alison.

"Yeah, you know, the guy on Star Trek who beamed people up to the ship, when…" Alison noticed the entirely blank look on Seo's face, and shook her head. "Are you sure you're not from another planet or something?"

"I'm from Earth!" Seo insisted. "Born October 1st, 2000, at Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, California!"

Alison blinked. Then blinked again. "Wait, you're seven years old?"

"No, I'm ninety eight," Seo corrected, turning back to the android, and grabbing it by the head. "Now, let's see what makes you tick."

And with a great big thrust, Seo jerked the head off the android's body.

All traces of fear left Alison, as the android slumped to the ground, no longer operational. Seo knelt down on the ground, prying casing off the android's skull and body, tossing it over her shoulder and analyzing the insides, carefully.

98.

Uh… huh…

"Simple snatch and grab android," Seo observed. "Hooked up to the main ship overhead."

She jerked the casing off the robot's chest, and her eyes glowed.

"Ha! Brilliant!" Seo cried, as she began scrambling around in the robot's insides, dissecting and then pocketing items seemingly at random.

"What?" asked Alison. She knelt down by Seo. "Are you getting the teleport functions out of him or something?"

Seo snapped her head up. "What? Oh. That." She bent down, again, resuming her dissection. "No. No, this is so I can repair the dishwasher."

"What?" Alison cried.

"Well, Mom's going to be really mad at me if I don't fix it by the time she gets home," Seo explained, pocketing a few more items, "and I'm pretty sure, using some of these systems, I can construct something that will at least clean dishes, although maybe not in the way she's used to, and…"

"Seo!" Alison snapped. "Alien space ship. Orbiting Earth. Kidnapped five year old brother!"

Seo paused. Looking a little guilty. "Priorities. Right." She bit her lower lip. "Sorry. I'm… not very good at this kind of thing, yet."

Alison just leveled the same determined glare at Seo.

"Anyways, I can't use a teleport," Seo told her, turning back to the robot.

"Why not?" asked Alison.

"But, lucky for us, looks like there's an emergency system installed," Seo continued, without answering. "A tractor beam retrieval mode." She grabbed up a small, humming black box from the robot's insides, and plopped it down on the ground, opening the lid and analyzing the interior, carefully. "We can tap into that."

"Why can't we teleport?" Alison asked, again.

"I never said we," said Seo. "I said 'I'."

"All right, why can't _you_ teleport?" Alison asked.

Seo didn't answer. She was staring at the inside of the box, thinking, carefully. Then, a spark appeared in her eyes, and she yanked a complicated looking gizmo out of her jacket pocket.

A gizmo… that was definitely far too big to fit in that little pocket.

"Where… did that come from?" Alison asked.

"Well, I definitely didn't steal it from Torchwood," said Seo, as she slipped it out of a clear plastic box that had housed the gizmo, and promptly began to dissect the alien gadget, placing bits and pieces inside the black box. Tweaking and altering the internal wiring of the box as she went. "And I certainly didn't take it out of Jack's special secret safe."

Alison picked up the casing, studying it. A scratched up looking box with see-through panels on the side, each glowing a faint blue. "It says, 'DO NOT USE'," Alison pointed out.

"I'm not using it," Seo replied. "I'm dissecting it."

The black box Seo was working on gave a click, then a clunk, then whirred with increased power. Seo grinned, clapping the top of the casing back on the box, and handing it to Alison. "Here."

"Me?" asked Alison, taking it.

"Oh, and… I'm going to have to hold onto you," Seo explained. "Or the beam won't pick me up. Sorry."

"You're…?" Alison began.

But then the box began to whine at her. Whine higher, and higher, and she felt the entire world going fuzzy nearby, a beam of light snapping out and fixing on herself, Seo, and the partially dissected android. Seo threw her arms around Alison, clinging to her in a desperate embrace, as Alison felt herself suddenly jerked up through the air, screaming as she raced up towards the clouds, then through them, faster and faster, barely able to take in her surroundings, until…

Alison blinked, as she realized… she was standing back on solid ground.

No, wait.

Not solid ground.

It was… the heavy, steady vibrating pulse of engines, rippling through a dark, metallic surface underfoot. Alison looked around herself, and saw… that same dark, stark metal, encasing them. A metal room. A few flashing lights on the surface of the far end of the room, but… other than that…

Seo jumped back, unhooking herself from Alison. Her eyes glowing, as a look of utter wonder and delight spread across her face. "A space ship!" she cried, racing around. Tapping the hull, analyzing the flashing lights, pressing buttons at random. She laughed in complete joy. "An actual, moving space ship! Drifting through space! Brilliant!"

"Space ship," Alison breathed.

One of the buttons Seo pressed made a panel at the far side of the wall slide away, revealing a large window, filled with the picture of stars twinkling against a black back-drop. And, hanging there, just in front of them…

"Earth," said Seo.

Alison stumbled forwards, her hands resting against the window panel.

Seo sprinted over to join her, the two standing, shoulder to shoulder, looking out on the planet beneath them. The clouds whisping across the surface, the oceans twinkling beneath the sunlight, the colors almost blending, one into another, as the planet continued its dance through space.

"It's beautiful," said Alison.

"Amazing," Seo agreed. Then she turned on her heel, and raced back to the buttons. "Still!" she continued. "If that button opened the window, then this…" banging her fist against another button, "should open…"

The door hatch just beside Seo slid aside to reveal a large, dark area. Almost cave-like in its gloom and desolation.

Alison hesitated, before crossing the room to where Seo was. "What's… in there?" she whispered.

"Don't know," said Seo. "I've never been on a space ship before."

"Your dad's an alien, though, right?" said Alison. "Doesn't he have a space ship?"

Seo's happiness tumbled off her face, and a trace of a deep sadness spread through her. "You mean… my father." She took a long, deep breath, one that seemed to tremble with the effort of holding back an emotion too deep for words. "Not… my dad."

And Alison realized… whoever Seo had called 'Dad', he'd not been her biological father. But he'd been very close to her. Very, very close. And she… had lost him.

"My father's ship is… different, anyways," said Seo, trying to dismiss the slip in her emotional mask. "And I only rode in it once."

Alison took Seo's hand in hers. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Seo said nothing for a few long moments, her eyes stuck to the ground, her entire body emoting pain and grief and a deep, deep sorrow.

"Your brother," she said, determinedly, at long last. She looked over at Alison. "David. Let's… focus on finding him. He's what's important."


	3. Chapter 3

An alert went off, on the control deck of the ship. A red, scaled finger flipped a switch, and a monitor flicked on. Showing an image of the emergency tractor-beam retrieval bay.

But the android wasn't there.

In its place, standing by the open hatch that led to the rest of the ship, was a single human girl. A young human girl — not as young as the others he'd taken, but young for her species. Tall, a face with sharply defined features, with brown hair tugged up into a ponytail.

An intruder. A clever intruder, if she'd somehow managed to see past his android's defenses, eliminate the android, then activate his tractor beam system to arrive here, all by herself.

The alien frowned.

Yes. She was far, far too clever.

The alien sat back in his seat, thinking through the possibilities. None of them seemed good. Then he pressed a few more buttons, activating the guard-droids.

Well, if she wanted to interfere, he'd let her be processed with all the others.

Easiest way to take care of the problem.

* * *

It wasn't just dark.

The moment they entered the room, they passed through some sort of… sound barrier. And heard the screaming, crying, frantic wail of young children, screaming and shouting for help, for mum and dad, for someone to get them out. They were confused, desperate, scared.

And, all along the room, stacked up high in rows, illuminated only at either end with a small blue light shining up from the floor, were cages. Heavy metal cages, one resting on top of another, with thick iron bars across the outside.

Alison gasped.

As she realized that… inside of every single cage… was a screaming, crying, desperate kid.

"That park must not have been the only one," Alison realized. She looked around herself, growing horror mounting in her chest. "He must be doing this all over the world."

Seo bent down, by one of the cages, shushing the little girl huddled up, whimpering, inside. She stuck her hand through the bars, taking the girl's hand in her own.

"Shhh," said Seo. "Shhh. I'm here. It's all right. You're going to be all right."

The child looked up at Seo, and seemed to be uplifted by the kind face. She tried to sit up, but banged her head against the top of the cage. And began to whimper, again.

"The monsters," she sobbed. "The monsters come. Hurt me."

Seo squeezed her eyes shut, a bitter pain spreading through her, as she took this in. Then, with a tremendous effort, she pasted a soft smile across her face, again, and leaned in closer to the little girl. "The monsters won't ever hurt you," she said. "Ever again. I promise."

The girl sniffled.

"You'll be safe, at home, in bed, with your mummy and daddy and toys," Seo promised. "Quick as I can manage it. You'll all be back where you belong."

The girl nodded. A new hope shining through her.

"Just go to sleep," Seo urged. "And when you wake up, it'll all be like a bad dream."

For a few moments, there was silence between them. Then, slowly, Seo withdrew her hand from the cage. When she turned to face Alison, all traces of that gentle, comforting smile were gone. All Alison could see left was a pure, unbridled fury.

"Alone," Seo said, her voice burning through the darkness. "Afraid. Children. Little children, stolen away from their lives." She bunched her hands into fists, her entire body trembling with hurt and anger. "This _ends_. Now."

Alison looked across the dark, scream filled room. Her brother was in there. Her little baby brother, brilliant little David, and he was just as scared and alone and desperate as all the others. Oh, God, what if she never found him? What if she never managed to get him out? What if…?

Her thoughts were cut off by the sudden chorus of horrified child-like shrieks echoing through the far end of the room. A chorus that crept closer and closer, as Alison heard a heavy thudding clang of metal against metal, coming nearer and nearer…

Alison backed up, as the enormous metal creatures emerged into sight. Four meters high. Their eyes pulsing with a steady green light, their hands outstretched towards Alison, their march steady and unwavering.

Seo grabbed her by the arm. "Run!"

Alison didn't have to be told twice. She spun on her heels, following Seo as they raced through the maze of different cages and terrified children. Seo skimming her eyes across the walls, clearly trying to figure out some way out of this.

Way out.

Hang about!

Alison glanced back over her shoulder. That last robot, down on the planet, it hadn't noticed Seo at all. Hadn't reacted to her. Hadn't even looked at her.

What if… these robots… were the same way?

Alison tugged her hand out of Seo's, and began to sprint in the opposite direction. Seo spun around, surprised, but Alison knew what she was doing. "Work out how to stop them!" she shouted, as she raced off. "Fast!"

If Seo was the one who could disable robots, then it was up to Alison to give her the chance. And Alison was really praying that Seo was half as clever as she seemed to be, because the way that these robots were chasing after her, she didn't think it'd be very long before they caught up with her.

"Go to the corner!" Seo shouted, from somewhere out of sight.

Alison dodged to the left, circling around the edge of another set of cages, then raced for the corner of the ship. Oh, she really hoped that Seo knew what she was doing, or Alison was going to find herself dead meat.

She spun around, as she reached the far corner. The two robots now right on top of her. Reaching out for her. She closed her eyes, crossed her fingers, and held her breath.

Then, a pair of robotic screams, as something felt sort of odd and tingly in Alison's fingers. She peeked out, and saw the robots both jerk and spasm, then slump in place, the lights in their eyes cutting out.

Around them, the sounds of metal bulkheads sealing them inside rang through the air.

Alison breathed, heavily, as the tingling feeling stopped.

"Rubber soles," came Seo's voice, as she emerged into sight, sprinting towards Alison.

"What?"

"Your shoes," said Seo. "Rubber soles. The power grid for this area of the ship only works in little square shapes, so if a power cut occurs, only some of the kids will get out and not all of them. I just rerouted the power into this little square, so it didn't hit any cages or kids, and fried the robots' circuits." She jumped up onto the back of one of the slumped over robots, and tore off the casing. "Now, let's see if we can make you work for _us_."

Alison walked, carefully, around the slumped robot. "Are all these robots mass manufactured in China or something?" she asked.

"China?" asked Seo, leaning so far into the robot's back that her upper torso was almost completely engulfed by it.

"Yeah, you know, shoddy workmanship," said Alison. She went over to the torn-off casing, lying abandoned and bent out of shape on the floor. "I mean, you keep ripping these things apart like they're…" She tried to lift it, and balked at the weight.

"I'm stronger than I look," Seo replied, her voice muffled, as she went deeper into the robot's back.

Oh. Right. Half-alien.

"Your father, again?" Alison guessed.

"My mom, actually," Seo corrected. Then, "Ha! There it is!"

The robot she was leaning inside twitched and spasmed, and threw Seo to the floor as it stood upright. Its eyes glowing and green and emotionless.

It didn't move.

Alison helped Seo get up. Her eyes never leaving the robot. "Is it…?"

"On our side," Seo confirmed. "See, there was a little switch, inside, and I flipped it from the 'evil' setting to the 'nice' setting."

Alison looked down at Seo. "Wait, really?"

"No," Seo said, dusting herself off. "Do you have a mobile?"

Alison, a little dumbstruck, reached into her pocket, and handed Seo her mobile.

Seo took it, gratefully, then whipped out her own little device, which was very clearly labeled, 'property of Torchwood', and pressed a button on the side. The Torchwood device unfolded and assembled itself around the phone, spider-like, weaving an intricate pattern around the phone's edges and suspending it in place over an unfolding… well, it looked a bit like a computer keyboard.

"What is Torchwood, anyways?" asked Alison.

"Um…" said Seo, with a bit of a grimace, as she began typing frantically on the keyboard of the device. She gave Alison a quick glance that looked like a plea. "Don't tell Jack I'm taking his stuff."

"All right, then," said Alison. "So… who's Jack?"

"No one," Seo put in, hurriedly.

She continued typing, and Alison bent over, trying to squint at the display. She was expecting alien computer code. But what she found, instead, was…

"It's C basic," said Alison.

"Well, they're actually using software running a pretty average computer basic code that's based on the…" Seo made a sound that was half way between a screech and a whistle, "language. Which is a language I don't happen to have a keyboard for. So I've written a subroutine that will allow them to understand our computer language, and am programming in that."

Alison knelt down, beside Seo. Her eyes fixed on the screen, as the coding scrolled by. A smile spreading up her face, as she realized what Seo was doing.

"You're making the robots send the kids back home," she said. "By having the robots scan the kids' DNA, do a global scan to find the parents' DNA, back on Earth, and then beam the kids back to where the police reports claim the parents live."

Seo paused. Glanced back at Alison. "You know how to program computers?"

Alison shrugged. "Well, as career paths go, it's not as exciting as something like sewage management," she said. "But it sure beats out Prime Minister of Great Britain." She took the keyboard out of Seo's hands, and began typing, herself. Now that she knew what Seo was up to, she understood exactly how to continue it. "You work on making the next robot not evil. I'll finish up here."

Seo's shock turned into a smile of her own. "You wouldn't consider being a full-time Scooby, would you?" she asked.

Alison didn't answer, as she felt herself getting into the code, typing and tapping and making it all fit together, like a beautiful little system she was creating, all by herself. The letters and numbers drifting across the screen of her mobile.

Seo, in the meantime, jumped onto the back of the next robot, and began rooting around in its insides.

A set of hidden speakers in the ceiling whined into life. Booming a deep, growly voice around them. A voice speaking to them in a series of words and a burst of language that Alison couldn't understand.

Seo stuck her head out of the robot's back, looking up at the ceiling. Processing all of this with a mildly puzzled look on her face. Alison decided, well, if Seo couldn't understand it, either, no point in her trying to. Seo was the half-alien expert around here, anyways.

"That's interesting," Seo muttered. "This isn't his ship."

"Huh?" asked Alison.

"The computer code language I mentioned, earlier," Seo explained. "That the robots and the ship are based on. It's not based on the same language he's using, now. He must have stolen this ship from someone else."

"So… you can understand him?" asked Alison. "You know what he's saying? You know where he's from?"

"I understand him," Seo confirmed. "I have no idea where he's from." She turned back to the robot, crawling into his back and rooting around inside. "I went through this phase, for about a decade when I was fifty, trying to pick up every alien language I could come across in the Axis archives. I know lots of languages. I just don't know where they're from or what aliens tend to speak them."

All right, then.

"Here!" said Seo, jumping off the robot, a little device in her hand. "This is what the robots are using to translate that language into their own. Should work for you, too." She raced over, and stuck the device behind Alison's ear. "There you go!"

From the speakers, Alison heard the voice suddenly clarify into, "—will regret it."

Then the speakers clicked off.

Alison nodded, slowly. Absorbing this all. Then focused back on her own work. She had it almost all coded in… just a little bit more, and…

There!

The robot nearby turned its head, stomping off with a mechanical rhythm, walking up to the first cage, releasing the child — who screamed and struggled in its grip — scanning him, then standing still, as if thinking a moment, and then… in a flash… the child was gone.

Then it went to the next cage.

"How many are there?" Alison asked, stepping forward, examining the rows upon rows of snatched children.

"Fifty, maybe a hundred," Seo said, typing on the keyboard, herself, programming the second robot the same way. "We'll get them all, don't worry. That's why I sealed off this area, so whoever's running this ship can't stop us before we're done."

A trace of that hard, dark anger crept into her voice at the end.

Alison nodded, slowly, her eyes just fixed on those poor, desperate kids, all caged and sealed away like they were animals, all wanting their mummies and daddies and…

"Alison!"

Alison snapped her neck around, and… there! Just there! That was…!

"David!" Alison cried. She raced towards him, yanking at the bars sealing him into his cage, but they wouldn't budge. Damn. She leaned down, so he could see her. "It's all right, David. I'm here. I'll get you home. You don't need to—"

But David didn't look terrified. He looked delighted. "Alison!" he shouted at her, again. "We're in space!"

Alison stopped. Staring at him.

Brilliant little David.

"Outer space!" shouted David. "We're like Honk and Tonk and Captain DJ!"

"Yes," said Alison with a grin and a desperate, relieved laugh. "Yes. Just like in 'Space Pirates'." Thank God for BBC kids' shows that desensitized kids to the horrors of evil alien kidnapping plots.

The second robot whirred into life, and began stomping around, sending kids back home, as well. Alison just tried her hardest not to cry, as she sat there, squatting down on the floor of an alien space ship, orbiting earth, in front of an alien cage that held her little brother. Her brother. Whom she'd thought she might never see again.

"That's… David?" came Seo's voice.

Alison glanced over. Seeing the small, petite blond girl standing, hands clasped behind her back, only a short ways away. Alison swallowed, hard, and nodded.

"Who's that?" asked David, trying to see past his cage. "Is she an alien?"

"I… don't know," Alison confessed. "But she's a friend. One of the good guys."

Seo stepped in, gently moving Alison away from the front of the cage. Then, in one fierce yank, she ripped the front of the cage off, and threw it on the floor, gathering up the young child in her arms. The young, enthusiastic little boy, looking at Seo with eagerness racing through him.

"Are you an alien?" David asked. "Are you? Are you? Are you?"

"No," said Seo. "I'm an American. But I _do_ have two hearts."

Alison started. "Wait, you have what?"

David seemed positively delighted at the news, as he squirmed in Seo's hands. She laughed, and released him onto the ground, where he bounded over to Alison, enthusing at a thousand words a minute about how they were in space and they were going to have fantastic space adventures, and look, they'd already met a two-hearted alien, and wasn't it brilliant, Alison? Wasn't that just brilliant?

"Yes," said Alison, with a deep sincerity she hadn't realized she'd felt. Despite the horror, despite the terror, despite the sheer miserableness of whatever space-scum had done this… Alison had been in space. Real, genuine outer space. She'd seen the Earth. Seen space ships. Fought robots. Saved her little brother. And met a half-alien. "It… really, sort of is."


	4. Chapter 4

"She's not picking up," said Buffy, with a sigh, hanging up the phone. "So either she's out of the apartment, getting into trouble. Or she's broken something, and doesn't want me to know about it." She paused. "Or… she's finally gone and blown up the apartment." She bit her lower lip. "Damn. I bet that's not covered by the fire insurance."

"Probably out getting into bloody trouble, again," Owen said, struggling, with Suzie and Ianto, to move the corpse of the alien creature into the lab for an autopsy. "Way I see it."

"Well, what's her mobile number?" asked Tosh, dragging her laptop out of her bag. "I can trace it."

Buffy gave a grim laugh. "She doesn't have one," she said. "Seo refuses to use a cell phone. I don't know if she just doesn't want me to be able to trace where she is, or if she's seriously freaked that Saxon's going to go after her for screwing up his network the moment she got here, but… she just won't use a cell phone. Period."

"You want to go back to London?" asked Jack, handing her back her alien-blood-drenched sword.

Buffy thought the matter over. Then shook her head. "I'll help you clean up," she decided. "After all, wherever Seo is, now, it's not like I'll be able to find her and help her out."

Ianto looked between Jack and Buffy. "Right…" He cleared his throat. "We'll just… put this alien corpse away, and let you two get on with the… 'cleaning up'. Alone."

* * *

The moment the robots finished, Seo overrode the locks to the bulkheads. And, an angry, biting expression on her face, she stormed through the space ship, her eyes glaring ahead of her, her teeth gritted. Alison and David scurried after her, trying to keep up.

This was it, Alison realized. This was the final showdown.

The final bulkhead door lay ahead, and Seo slammed her hand down on the button, making the door slide away, to reveal…

Alison saw the gun before Seo did. "Get down!" she shouted, shoving Seo to the ground, as the flash of an energy beam ripped through the air where they'd been standing.

Alison looked up, staring at the creature who'd fired the gun.

A thin, reedy-looking creature, with red scaly skin and a gigantic, oblong head, his eyes narrow slits and his six fingered hands looking gnarled and wrinkled. He stepped forward, his eyes falling on Alison. "Human animal," he said, in a gruff, coarse English. "Vile little human animal. You think you can…"

Then his eyes fell on Seo. He hesitated, just a hair.

"Who are you?" he demanded of Seo.

Seo jumped to her feet, and surged towards him, jerking the gun out of his hand before he had time to register what was happening. He stood a good half-meter taller than her, but she stared him down as if she were the one in charge. "No," she snapped. "That's not what I want to know." She tossed the gun over her shoulder, and it fell, way far back in the hallway. "I want to know… why?"

The alien growled at her. "I don't need a gun to dispose of you, little human animal."

Seo crossed her arms. "Let me explain," she said, giving him a hard, dark stare. "You locked up children. Poor, frightened little children. You kept them alone and afraid in the dark, separated from their parents and those that loved them." Her voice dropped, shaking with repressed fury. "The only reason you're still alive, right now, is because I want to know why."

The alien gave a soft, hissing laugh. Coming up to Seo. Whispering into her ear, with a malicious voice, "Because the meat from human children is so much more tender than from adults."

Alison's jaw fell open, in horror. "You…?!"

But before she had a chance to say another word, the alien was thrown back against the control panel of his space ship, the impact denting into the metallic surface below, the switches sparking and sizzling around him.

Seo stepped into the room, every single cell of her body pulsing with a raging, violent anger. "How dare you," she whispered, her eyes fixed on him. "How dare you!"

"You're… not human," the alien realized. He gave a sharp, disjointed laugh. "Should have known. Humans are too stupid to be able to stop something like this."

He tried to get up, but Seo hurled herself at him, kicking him back into the control panel, even harder, so that a zap of electricity ran through his body.

Alison's breath caught in her throat.

"Alison?" David said, his eyes fixed on the scene before him. "Why's she superwoman?"

Alison honestly had no idea.

"Animals," the alien rasped out. "Vile little animals. Barely worth the meat they produce."

Seo punched him so hard in the jaw that the bone cracked beneath the impact. Then dragged him up to her eye level, glaring at him.

"I _like_ them," she hissed.

He met her eyes with his own, as if daring her to do it. Daring her to go on and take the final blow. Kill him, outright. A space crook, an alien pirate, daring her to exact justice.

Seo let him go.

He thunked down against the metal floor. Rasping for breath, pooling a dark green blood out from him.

"Coward," he accused, as best he could through his broken jaw. "Letting me go."

"Do you want to know what it's like?" Seo whispered to him. Her voice now more vicious than ever before. "To be put away. In a dark, noisy little room, caged up, alone, afraid, and ashamed. With monsters hounding you and the little bitty remains of those teleport transfer chemicals boring their way through your skull?"

Then, with one angry thrust, Seo threw her hands at the alien's head — no, no, _through_ the alien's head, through the sides of his head and all the way deep into his mind — a surge of ectoplasmic energy rippling past his skull and dissipating into the air around them, as Seo's eyes bore into his.

"Now, you'll know!" she shouted.

He screamed, as an even greater surge of energy poured from his head.

"This is what you deserve!" said Seo. "This is what _you_ did to _them_!"

David's eyes went wide, as he held Alison's hand even tighter, trying to hide behind her legs. Tears beginning to sprout in his eyes, as he tried not to watch the torture.

"Seo!" Alison shouted.

Seo blinked. Then… seemed to suddenly realize… what was happening… what she was doing, that the alien beneath her was writhing and screaming and sobbing, agonized, and — deserve it or not, she was _torturing_ him. Purposely torturing him, just to watch him suffer.

Seo jerked herself away, suddenly plastered against the back wall of the control room, staring at the alien in utter horror.

The alien who was now jabbering nonsense to himself, trapped in his own little nightmare, his entire body trembling in terror.

"I… I…" She looked down at her hands. "I can brain suck people. I can actually…" Her voice shook, a sudden raw, desperate fear overtaking her. She looked back at the alien, her eyes suddenly deathly fearful. "No."

"Seo," Alison said, trying to go up to her, trying to convince her to just take them home.

But Seo couldn't even hear Alison anymore.

"No!" Seo screamed, dropping down to the floor, hands clasping her head, huddling into a ball. "No! I won't turn into her! I'm not going to let that happen! I'll never… let…"

"Why's she screaming?" David asked.

Alison had no idea. She dropped down by Seo. "Seo, please," she urged. "Let's just leave. Go home. You can…"

Seo looked up at Alison, hard, dark eyes. "I'm going to kill myself."

Alison started back. "What?!"

"The goddess unborn!" Seo shouted. "That's what it means. That's what the Judge saw in me! Why Twilight chose me! Why everyone keeps hunting me down. Deep down inside, I'm Glory!" She stumbled to her feet, pacing forwards. "But I won't let myself be like Ben. Not like that weak-willed spineless child-murderer. If killing myself will save everyone else, then I'll damn well make sure I'm dead!"

The entire space ship bucked and shook, as Seo began poking and punching at buttons on the control panel. A determination in her eyes.

The alien scurried away from her, sobbing. "The blond goddess," he muttered. "Goddess of vengeance. Won't let you hurt the kids. Won't let you. Won't let me. No, no place to go. Trapped. Alone and shattered and undone and…"

"Seo!" Alison said. "Stop! Just…"

Seo kept poking and prodding at buttons. "I can crash it," she said. "Into the ocean. No people, there. Quick death, sudden. Shouldn't be able to come back from that. No chance I'll survive…"

"Oh, God," breathed Alison. "She's completely flipped."

And she was going to kill them. Kill them all. Because she'd done something that Alison didn't understand, and now she was terrified and panicking. Terrified and panicking just like Alison had done, when she'd been staring at that android and it had gotten into her mind…

Alison dropped David's hand, raced over to Seo, tried to pull her away from the control panel. "Don't do this!" she said.

Seo fought back, struggling and pushing against Alison. "I have to!" she screamed, and Alison could feel the terrified tremble shaking through her, with every fearful word. "They gave me too much! They turned me into her! She's waking up, inside of me, and I can't give her the chance to get out! She'll kill Buffy. She'll kill Dawn. She'll rip apart the world, and not even care. I can't do it. I'd rather die than become some inhuman monster who'd murder kids to save his own neck! I'd rather die than—"

"Then who'll fix the bloody dishwasher?!" Alison screamed.

Seo stopped. Froze. Blinked.

"Dishwasher," she repeated. Her jaw dropped. "Oh, God, the dishwasher! Mom's gonna kill me if I don't…" Then stopped. Turned around, registering the person in front of her. "Wait, what are you still doing here?"

"Crashing into the Earth and drowning to death!" said Alison, pointing to the window, which showed the ship going into a nose-dive towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Seo's eyes turned to David, who was now looking extremely afraid, huddling away from her. "Oh, no." She threw herself back at the control panel, smacking buttons and flipping switches. She stopped. Stared. "Teleports are jammed. I must have shorted them out when I hurled that alien through the control panel."

"Seo," said Alison, real urgency in her voice, "get us the hell out of here. Right now."

Seo looked between Alison and David. Then, a new determination in her eyes, she raced forward, and jumped into the pilot's seat. Grabbing up the controls, swerving them up just before they hit the water's edge.

Alison tumbled against the far wall, as the ship spun and wove through the air. Seo pushed the controls to the right, and they sparked, flashed beneath her hands. The ship groaned and shuddered, then began to spin round and round again, even more violently than before.

"We're going to crash," Seo realized. "I can't…" She stared out ahead of her, and a small smile appeared on her face. "No, wait!" She grabbed for a lever right beside her. "I read this in a book somewhere." And she threw it, hard as she could, up into the air.

The space ship's engines began to scream in protest, as the ship itself bucked and tumbled and shook, jerking Alison and David across the control room. And just when Alison thought she couldn't take any more…

Slam!

The thud of landing smacked her and her brother back, colliding them with the soft form of the mumbling, mad alien.

Alison braced herself for the rush of water seeping in. But…

No.

Nothing.

"I did it," Seo breathed. She gave a shaken, incredulous laugh. "I… I crash landed an alien space ship. I…" She paused, a thousand thoughts racing through her mind.

Alison peeled herself and her brother up from the floor. The ship was gently listing to one side, but she picked her way across the still smoking floor, coughing, trying to peer through the front windshield of the space ship. "Where…?"

"Out!" Seo shouted, grabbing her and David up and yanking them towards an exit hatch in the ship's side. She forced it open, and they all three jumped down onto a damp, marshy soil.

Thick mud squelching around Alison's shoes.

She looked around herself. "Hang about," she said. "This looks like… Scotland."

The ship was part-way submerged into the loch, its hull still crumbling and smoldering, having sunk itself deep into the mud.

"Yes, and we need to get out of here," said Seo. "Right now. Because any minute, Torchwood 2's going to show up to investigate, and Archie's going to tell Jack, and…" She yanked Alison and David after her. "I'm going to be in so much trouble for this."

David, beside Alison, looked around himself. Then squealed, in delight.

"I wanna go again!" he cried.


	5. Chapter 5

David fell asleep on the long train ride back to London.

Alison and Seo just sat there, facing one another, as the train made its way across the British Isles.

"I guess this means… your mum's going to find out you blew up the dishwasher," said Alison, as night fell around them.

Seo looked out the window. Shook her head. "She's having an overnight visit. I've got till morning."

"Overnight…?" Alison stopped. "Oh. Your parents… aren't together, anymore."

Right. Yeah. The whole… 'dad' thing. That made sense.

"They never really were together," Seo confessed. She sighed. "It's… complicated."

Alison nodded. Very, very slowly.

Complicated.

Like so many things about Seo. So many things that Alison didn't understand.

So many things she _wanted_ to understand.

"What did you do to that alien?" Alison ventured.

Seo looked down at her hands. A very solemn look on her face. "Something… I shouldn't have been able to do." She looked back up at Alison. "I almost killed you, didn't I?"

Alison shrugged.

"I'm sorry," said Seo. "I wasn't thinking. I was just… so scared. So terrified." She sighed. "I'm not superwoman, you know. I thought I was, but… deep down inside…" she gave a small shrug. "I guess I'll always be the villain."

Alison stared at her. Then gave a little laugh. "Right. Yeah. Because the alien monster who was kidnapping and torturing kids so he could sell them as meat was the good guy."

"That's not what I meant," said Seo. She wouldn't meet Alison's eyes. "Just… for almost killing you. And losing my temper. And… everything." A raw, bitter guilt twisted on her face, a deep, despairing pain. "My parents… they're both superheroes, you know. Real superheroes. Buffy — Mom — she saves the world pretty much every day. And my father wanders around space and time in a Police Box, stopping the universe from ending."

"You're kidding," said Alison.

Seo shook her head. She wasn't kidding. Not at all.

"I was created… using magic and genetic manipulation and spacio-temporal madness… as a combination of both of them," Seo explained. "Because of who they are. Created… to kill someone. An immortal. A Hell Goddess, named Glory." She took a deep breath. "That's… why."

And Alison realized. The super strength. The rage. The ability to manipulate everything to her advantage. That was what it was all for.

"Oh."

Seo wiggled her fingers. "Brain sucking," she said. Looked up at Alison. "It's called… brain sucking. It drains all the mental cohesion from your brain, leaving you trapped, alone, isolated inside your mind. Leaves you… mad. Completely mad. Glory used to do it." Looked back down at her hands. "I didn't know I could."

Alison nodded, slowly.

"I just… in that moment, when I heard what he'd done… I _wanted_ him to suffer," said Seo. "Not to die — to be in pain and agony. I wanted him to know what he'd put those children through. And I wanted to make sure he never, ever came free from it. I thought… he deserved it."

Alison thought this over. Then, in a soft voice, "Well, he did."

Seo looked up at her.

"I don't know who Glory was," said Alison, "or why you're so terrified of becoming her. But… I'm a human being. Hell Goddess free, completely normal human being. And I think that alien bastard got what was coming to him."

Seo bit her lower lip.

"And, anyways," said Alison, patting her sleeping brother on the head. "The hero is always the one who saves screaming kids. Not the villain. If you don't know that, you need to read more comic books."

"I'm going to lock it up," Seo decided.

Alison frowned. "Lock… what… up?"

"Everything that's Glory in me," said Seo. "Any super strength beyond Buffy's — Mom's. Any extra energy that comes with it. The brain sucking. The ability to reach through dimensions and turn a higher-dimensional being inside out. I'm locking all of that away, inside of me. And I'm never letting it out, ever again."

"Oh," said Alison.

She'd actually thought it was kind of cool, hanging out around someone who looked like she was just a normal 17-year-old, but actually had superpowers.

"Glory," Seo explained, "she didn't care. Didn't feel anything, deep down inside. She was prepared to murder a child, slowly and painfully, thirteen times over, sentencing the universe to go down in flames around her, just so she could get to her own universe and exact revenge." She wrapped her hands around her arms, shrinking into herself. "If she's inside of me… I'm locking her away… and never letting her out. Not a single little bit of her. Not even if my own life's in danger." Her lower lip trembled. "I'd rather die myself than live as Glory."

And Alison could see… something shining through Seo's eyes. Some deep childhood trauma that this was tapping into. Some horrible memory that all this was dredging up.

"I guess… after what I almost did to you… that you don't want to be my Scooby, anymore," said Seo, looking out the window.

Alison cracked up.

Seo quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"

What could Alison even say to that? It was… everything. All of it! The fact that Seo would just assume that Alison didn't want to associate with her, because she'd rescued little kids and lost her temper with the monster who'd locked them up. The fact that she kept using the term 'Scooby' when she obviously had no idea what the hell 'Scooby Doo' even was. The fact that…

She seemed almost as lonely, friendless, and destined not-to-fit-in as Alison, herself.

"I've got absolutely no idea who you are or where you came from or why you can reprogram alien androids and can't figure out how to fix a dishwasher," said Alison. "But if you're looking for a Scooby to solve mysteries and fight against alien monsters, I'll go Scooby Doo all the way."

* * *

They stepped back, to admire their handiwork, as the first tendrils of morning illuminated the kitchen.

"Well, it sure _looks_ good," said Alison. She glanced over at Seo. "Does it actually wash dishes?"

Seo bent down, eyeing it suspiciously. "It either washes dishes," she decided, "or it teleports them into space. I'm not sure which."

They both spun around, as the front door opened. And a petite blond woman — who looked so almost exactly like Seo, it was a little unnerving — and a handsome-looking man in a World War II military greatcoat stepped into the flat.

Seo's eyes went wide. "Oh." She cringed. "Um… hello."

"You know," said the man, leaning against the door, as he closed it, crossing his arms. "Funny thing. Early this morning, I got this call from Archie, saying there was a crashed alien space ship right outside of Loch Lomond, with a jabbering alien who won't stop talking about the 'small blond goddess of vengeance'." His eyes twinkled. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"No," said Seo.

The woman — Seo's mum, Alison figured — looked over at Alison, intrigued. "Who's that?"

"My Scooby," said Seo.

Seo's mum burst out laughing.

"Well, you get Scoobies!" Seo insisted. "And Jack gets Scoobies. So why can't I—?"

Seo's mum rushed over and swept her up into a tight hug. Kissing the top of her head. "Someday," she said, "I need to explain to you why they're called 'Scoobies'."

She released Seo, then turned to Alison. Offering her a hand. "I'm Buffy," she said. "Seo's mom." She glanced back at the man standing by the door. "That's Jack. He's just… a friend."

Oh. Jack. The don't-tell-him-Seo-stole-things-from-Torchwood Jack. What was Torchwood, anyways?

"Alison," said Alison, shaking the hand. "I'm just… a friend of Seo's. You know. Just… ran into her while babysitting my brother, David, and… yep. Fast friends." She paused. Studying Buffy, carefully. "You're… the person Seo claims saves the world every day, right?"

"Yes," said Jack, as Buffy, at the same time, said, "No."

They exchanged a look.

Then Buffy sighed. "Maybe not every day," she admitted. "The major apocalypses are more like… once a month or so." She glanced over her shoulder, at Jack. "And he helps."

Alison stared at her. Then began to laugh. "You… fight aliens!" she said. "And save the world! You, Seo, Jack, her father — a whole family of alien-fighting super-people." She shook her head. "That puts my parents' whole Korjensky Family Pride thing into perspective."

Buffy visibly started at this. "Wait, Korjensky?"

From the back wall, Jack straightened, peering at Alison.

She retrieved her hand. "Oh, no," she said. "You've… heard of us." She couldn't believe what an ass her parents had made of themselves. And now, she'd met possibly the coolest family on the planet, and _they_ knew her parents had made asses of themselves, too!

"Uh… you… could say that, yeah," said Buffy.

Seo quirked an eyebrow at her, in question. A question Buffy stubbornly refused to answer.

"Alison Korjensky," Jack mused. He grinned at her. "And that would make your brother… no, let me guess… David Walter Korjensky?"

Alison buried her face in her hands. "Oh, God," she said. "You really have met my parents." She took a deep breath. Then headed out the door. "I'm… going to just leave, now. While I still have some dignity left."

"Come back soon!" Seo called after her, as she left the flat.

* * *

Buffy turned on Jack, the moment Alison was out of range. Her entire expression turning to one of utter and complete shock. "No."

"Yep," said Jack.

"Korjensky?" said Buffy. "The same Korjensky?!"

"David Walter Korjensky III," said Jack. "This David's great-great-great grandson. Explorer. Philanthropist. Adventurer. Founder of the Korjensky star system, and many others besides. And… a fervent believer in the strength and unifying power of the Slayer Institution."

Buffy felt a small grin pull at the edges of her face.

"I always wondered how that family became so involved with the Slayers," said Jack. He grinned at Seo, and winked. "Guess… you'll make an impression."

Seo beamed.

"Now," Jack continued, "onto some more serious matters." He went up to Seo, looking her right in the eye. "You wouldn't happen to know the whereabouts of some very dangerous items that are supposed to be locked up in my safe at Torchwood, would you?"

* * *

The next day, every single one of Buffy's dishes, run through the dishwasher, turned blue.

**Author's Note:**

> Five points if you know what TV show Alison's talking about with the fingers touching thing.
> 
> Ten points if you know the theme song!


End file.
